Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus, an imprint method, and a method of manufacturing an article.
Description of the Related Art
An imprint technique that transfers a pattern formed on a mold to a substrate is attracting attention as one of lithography techniques for manufacturing semiconductor devices. In an imprint apparatus using this technique, a mold on which a pattern is formed and an imprint material supplied on a substrate are brought into contact with each other, and the imprint material is cured in this state. The pattern of the mold can be transferred to the substrate by separating the mold from the cured imprint material.
Since the imprint apparatus is required to accurately transfer the mold pattern to the substrate, it is important to accurately align the mold and substrate in a surface direction parallel to the surface of the substrate. Therefore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-165371 has disclosed a method of aligning a mold and substrate in the surface direction while the mold and an imprint material on the substrate are in contact with each other.
When aligning a mold and substrate in the surface direction while the mold and an imprint material on the substrate are in contact with each other, the relative position of the mold and substrate are difficult to change, so it takes a considerable time to perform this alignment. In the imprint apparatus, therefore, it is necessary to first align a mold and substrate in the surface direction while the mold and an imprint material on the substrate are not in contact with each other, and then bring the mold and the imprint material on the substrate into contact with each other. However, when alignment is performed in the surface direction while a mold and an imprint material on a substrate are not in contact with each other, a mold pattern transferred to the substrate sometimes shifts from a transfer target position on the substrate.